Universities seem to always cluster together.
In any case, near Lin Nan's school, there were seven or eight scattered colleges and vocational schools. The large number of students drove consumption in the surrounding area, even giving rise to a bustling pedestrian street.
This pedestrian street gradually became the liveliest place around the school. The internet café they had visited during the previous power outage was also on this street.
The pedestrian street wasn't much different from streets in other cities, except the buildings weren't as tall and the roads weren't as spacious. Various vendors crowded both sides of the road, forcibly squeezing what was originally a four-lane road into just two lanes.
When Lin Nan and Chen Yao arrived, it was only noon.
"Yesterday I had a friend arrange it for us—wearing mascot costumes to hand out flyers. You'll get 150 yuan when you finish. Sound good?" Chen Yao explained while leading the way, with Lin Nan following behind. "You can finish whenever all the flyers are handed out, but they'll dock your pay if you don't distribute them all."
"Got it," Lin Nan replied, seeming a bit nervous.
Since his body had been becoming increasingly feminine, he hated being the center of attention. Although the mascot costume wouldn't show his face, he would still be under public scrutiny.
Lin Nan had always been fairly independent. After all, his parents were often absent during his childhood, and after middle school, he had lived alone. But oddly enough, since becoming friends with Chen Yao, he had developed a kind of dependence on him.
When alone, Lin Nan could be fearless—whether going out late at night, doing something he'd never done before, or chatting easily with strangers. But whenever he was with Chen Yao, Lin Nan found himself more willing to follow behind, watching as Chen Yao handled everything efficiently.
Soon, the two entered a supermarket. After finding the person in charge, they received a thick stack of flyers and two Kumamon mascot costumes. (TN: Kumamon is the mascot of the Kumamon Prefecture in Japan. However the popularity extends internationally, such as China.)
Lin Nan thought Kumamon was quite cute, but the costume was cumbersome to wear and severely limited his vision. Even though they were still inside the air-conditioned supermarket, Lin Nan felt uncomfortably hot as soon as he put on the mascot suit.
The costume was extremely uncomfortable. Each time he lifted his arms or legs, it required extra effort. After helping Chen Yao into his costume, just a few minutes of movement had already left him short of breath.
His stamina really was too poor.
Lin Nan pursed his lips and spoke in a muffled voice from inside the sealed Kumamon costume, asking Chen Yao, "Is this part-time job available every week, or just today?"
"This supermarket holds promotions every week, so they basically need people weekly," Chen Yao replied as he moved around, kicking his legs and swinging his arms while adding, "But it seems like there are quite a few students who do this kind of part-time work. If you want to do it regularly, I can ask about it for you in advance."
Without much consideration, Lin Nan immediately agreed, "Of course I want to! Two days on weekends means 300 yuan, which is 1,200 a month—more than my living allowance."
"We'll be going out to distribute flyers soon. Why don't you decide after finishing today? In this heat, I'm worried you might get heatstroke," Chen Yao said, thinking Lin Nan might have underestimated how difficult handing out flyers could be.
If it were winter, it might be simple enough—just being cute on the street and giving flyers to anyone willing to take them. But now it was summer, and being wrapped in a mascot suit for an extended period, even in the shade, would be challenging even for someone with a robust physique.
Before leaving, Chen Yao had specifically taken some Huoxiang Zhengqi Water from Xiong Da's drawer, worried about potential heatstroke.
"If you feel dizzy, take off the head immediately to get some air and rest, understand?" Chen Yao advised with concern. "Don't keep pushing yourself if you get heatstroke—it could be life-threatening."
"I know, I know," Lin Nan nodded repeatedly, but his mind was searching through Lilith's memories.
Was there any magic that could lower body temperature?
Though he generally avoided using magic—like when he hadn't used it to enhance his stamina during his food delivery job—but this time... the pay was just too good!
Earning 150 yuan in just a few hours in the afternoon—if this job were available daily, it would mean over 4,000 yuan monthly. Even if it was just two days a week, he could still earn over 1,000 yuan per month. At that rate, even if they didn't win the competition, he would only need two months to clear his debt, with a few hundred extra to enjoy a good meal.
Compare that to delivering food: two hours at noon, two hours in the evening, constantly worrying about being late after class, essentially having no leisure activities Monday through Friday with all the classes and work, and the monthly salary was still less than 1,000 yuan.
This current job only used his weekend free time, just one afternoon of work, leaving the morning and evening free for entertainment.
The best job would actually be working as a tutor, either at a training center or as a home tutor, but Lin Nan's grades had never been particularly good, he didn't attend a prestigious university, and he lacked connections.
Most importantly, he disliked children.
After moving around inside the supermarket and gradually getting accustomed to the Kumamon costume, Lin Nan and Chen Yao took heavy steps outside.
As soon as they left the supermarket, they were hit by the distortion of hot air. The temperature inside the costume began to rise rapidly. Lin Nan almost immediately held his breath, and sweat quickly formed on his temples.
After walking just a few steps, sweat had already soaked his bangs, with droplets sliding down his face, but he couldn't even wipe it away.
"Today it's about... 37 degrees, right?" Lin Nan muttered to himself, suddenly regretting taking this job.
But he did owe Tu Junhui a large sum of money, and until that debt was repaid, he would feel uncomfortable.
"I'll go distribute at the traffic light over there," Chen Yao approached and pointed toward the intersection behind them. "If you're not feeling well, quickly find a store to get some air conditioning, then call me."
Lin Nan, waddling like a penguin, turned around unsteadily to look at the intersection, then nodded. "I'll go to the next traffic light."
Looking at the street through the costume's limited view, he occasionally pulled out a flyer to offer to passersby, but just as he had experienced before, most people walked away without even looking.
He wondered if he could distribute them all.
By the time he reached the intersection, his back was already soaked through.
The costume was stuffy and hot, like a sealed microwave, with Lin Nan as some kind of food inside it.
The sun was exceptionally scorching today. He looked around, then quickly moved under the sunshade next to the traffic light, standing beside an on-duty traffic assistant.
Seeing that the middle-aged assistant didn't seem to mind, Lin Nan caught his breath and gathered his courage to begin promoting to pedestrians waiting at the light.
"Hello, Yonghui Supermarket has special prices today. Want to take a look?"